This Ain't No Christmas Carol

Heck yes! It was time for another one of those random festival parties that seemed to happen every few months or holiday. Whichever came first. The current one might not have been as great as that block party gathering during the summer, but it wasn't so bad in Aliarey's opinion. There was a lot of stuff to do, including karaoke. Sure it was a bunch of Christmas carols and songs that some people might have been tired of hearing over and over every day as the major holiday got closer, but meh. The blonde didn't mind that. She'd make it over there herself and sing her heart out a bit later. For now, she was taking part in an activity she never thought that she would attempt, but... well... she was broke again. That meant no real money for good Christmas presents for Trey and the old man back at "home".

What was the solution to her plight? Making some presents. Those supposedly meant more than spending a bunch of money on a gift... or something. She could have sworn she heard that before. There was one thought that many would likely come to think about. If she had no money to buy a decent gift, then where was she going to get the money to make something? By taking advantage of the supplies being given around the festival for its contests. The Ugly Sweater contest in particular. She could make sweaters. Maybe. It didn't LOOK hard when she started and watched some of the other people around get into it, but watching and doing were completely different boss modes. It didn't take long for Aliarey to consider just stealing to meet the Christmas present quota.

"Why is this so hard?" Aliarey asked herself out loud as she attempted to continue the task of making a sweater. There was several colored rolls of yarn all over the place in her little station as well as glitter and other decorations that could have been sewn onto the sweaters. She held up the monstrosity in front of her to get a better look. "Well, it IS supposed to be ugly, but this is just ridiculous." In truth, she wasn't even sure if it could even pass for a sweater. Her face scrunched up in disapproval and disgust at her creation. It needed to be burned. "Fuck it. I'll just say it's a new target for shooting practice instead of a sweater." If not that maybe she could make it passable as a scarf... or something.

During her little task of making the ultimate Christmas present, it didn't dawn on her that there was a chance she'd run into someone familiar. That hadn't really been the plan. The idea that the entire festival could also end up being interrupted by some old weirdo and his spirit groupies also wasn't on her mind. But hey, that was likely better than having to wear the sweater that she had created.

(Word Count: 495)

Ugly Sweater Crafting completed = 2 Peppermint Sticks

-Magnolia Town-

Wearing her purple long-sleeved t-shirt, new black skirt with black thigh-high stockings, and black tennis shoes along with purple iLac in her right skirt pocket, Diana calmly walked into Magnolia Town for only the second time in her life. The first time was when she had returned Amanda Smith to her older sister Meredith less than a few weeks ago. Attending this Christmas party would be her second time. The huntress saw people walking with their families and buying gifts for their families and could hardly bear the sight.

Diana did not care much for Christmas because she did not have a family to celebrate with. They had all died over four years ago, so she had no one to buy gifts for. Even if they were still alive there was no point in shopping for gifts because her family was so wealthy that they could just buy what they wanted whenever they wanted. Diana thought about her family and realized that the only one of them she really missed was her oldest sister Lucia.

She hated her mother and did not care much for her father or for Melody, the second-oldest Winchester sister and their mother's favorite. She did not know much about Lucius the oldest Winchester son, her younger brother, or her other sisters. After her magic had manifested at the age of ten Diana had had so little contact with them that anyone beyond Lucia, Melody, and Lucius was an enigma to her.

Diana wished that Lucia was still alive so that she could thank her sister for trying to look after her for all those years. But would Lucia still want anything to do with Diana after everything the latter had done? Or would Lucia shun her because of all the blood on her hands?

Diana did not want to think about that, so she instead focused on the Christmas event and tried to find something to do to take her mind off of things. She looked around and saw a Christmas tree decorating contest, an area set aside for karaoke, a "Guess The Gift" activity, and an Ugly Sweater Crafting place. Diana saw someone with long blonde hair and wearing a style of clothing that only one person she knew wore.

Aliarey Casady.

Diana walked up to one of the few people in Earthland she counted as a friend and spoke to her.

"Hello Alia." Diana greeted the Guildless mage she had attended a few previous events with and had come to know a little bit about. Their last meeting had been at the Urban Nights event several months ago. Now whether by fate or coincidence they had met again.

[Post Word Count: 448]
[Diana's Word Count: 448]

Alia let out a huge sigh of disappointment. She wasn't really one for gifts. There were really very few people she cared about enough to even bother with that kind of thing. Even then though she still wanted to get something for those two for putting up with her all the time. If only she knew how to save money. Then she could have at least bought them some new coffee mugs. "Maybe there's a shop around here somewhere..." the requip mage thought out loud to herself as she turned her head to the side and looked around, attempting to see past the crowd and decorations for something like that. It'd be easy to steal from a possibly small place like that. Hell, who would even miss a couple of coffee mugs? The lesson of not stealing should have been permanently imprinted into her very soul, mind, and being after the punishment from last time, but really that only lasted so long. That just told her to watch who she stole from.

She heard her name called, an unexpected thing for sure. The blonde rapidly turned her head to stare at the one that had approached. She was full ready to take off running if need be just in case it was someone she owed money to... or possibly stole from in the past. There were a lot of those. Her nerves settled once she saw it was... uh... Tiana? Brianna? No! Diana! That was it! Aliarey didn't really know much about her really except for the fact they had a knack for running into each other when there was a festive gathering of some sort. It was... kind of weird actually. Sure the other blonde didn't really show any interest in harming her or stabbing her in the back for whatever reason, but it was still kind of creepy how she always showed up. Those festivals were held pretty much anywhere and everywhere and yet there she was. In the same exact town again. Was Diana a stalker? Did she have access to some very advanced tracking device that was set to track her down when it was time for a party? That was kind of a weird reason, Aliarey admitted to herself. Stupid actually. Who stalks someone just on party days? It was still a weird coincidence though with no explanation that wasn't completely ridiculous in her head.

"Oh, hey," Alia greeted back, but a bit suspiciously given her current thought process. She gave a wave of her hand and then realized that her other hand was still holding the ugly monstrosity of a sweater. Her cerulean eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. No one could be allowed to see the thing she had made! With a small panicked cry Alia quickly got off her seat and put the sweater there, followed by her action of sitting on it. It now didn't exist. Sure, the woven fabric could still be seen around the edges. The sleeves even dangled down towards the ground in plain sight. It still didn't exist. She would play dumb! "Ahem!" Alia cleared her throat and innocently stared up at Diana with her hands on her knees. "Fancy meeting you here. Is this like some weird tradition between us now? You know, the part where in all of Earthland we randomly meet at the exact same time and place for these silly festivals? If it's not, it's still kind of weird. Not completely sure if I believe in that many fateful coincidences." Although now that she thought about it in a humorous way, maybe the two of them were breaking some kind of life law by attending the festivals alone and them meeting up like they always did was the order of life correcting itself. How dare they attend a social gathering without a buddy or two! They were criminals.

(Word Count: 646
Aliarey Total: 1141)

Diana heard her greeting be returned and saw Aliarey try in vain to conceal a sweater from her by sitting on it and looking innocently at the green-eyed blonde after putting her hands on her knees, but the huntress could still see its sleeves dangling on the ground. If Aliarey was trying to hide it from Diana she was not doing a very good job of it. Diana looked around and saw that there was a station where one could craft sweaters for a "Craft An Ugly Sweater" activity. Judging from Aliarey's unusually subdued behavior, the other blonde had recently partaken in the activity. She had never suspected Aliarey to be the type to make a sweater, but that was fine with Diana

The huntress chose not to point out that she could still see the sweater's sleeves and decided to let the matter of the sweater drop in favor of discussing something else. That something else was Aliarey's suspicion that her meeting with Diana at this event was not a mere coincidence. The green-eyed blonde felt the same way about their tendency to meet up at festivals.

It seemed like almost every time there was a festival the two blondes met. They had done that for at least one festival prior to Urban Nights... Diana remembered the Pumpkin event and the Winter event before this one, so that made two festivals they had met at. Then there was Urban Nights a few months ago to make three. Now it was the Christmas event to make four events in total they had met at. Diana found it somewhat amusing that they somehow always met up when it was festival time, but her fellow blonde had a point.

Was it coincidence or was it fate?

"You may be onto something, Aliarey." Diana said to her fellow blonde. Diana's green eyes met Aliarey's blue eyes as the former began to speak.

"We always tend to meet at festivals whether we intend to or not. I find that more than a little odd. I too think that there is more than coincidence at work. Like you said, we have met far too often for it to be just coincidence." Diana stated calmly. No matter what Diana and Aliarey always somehow found each other at festivals. The huntress highly doubted that the hand of Selene was at work, so something else had to be bringing the two together. What could be the driving force that brought them together?

Diana did not mind too much because Aliarey was a cheerful sort who did not let much get her down. Diana needed someone like Aliarey to keep life something worth living. The huntress shifted her focus away from such dark thoughts and put on a cheerful face for Aliarey.

"Anyway, how goes it?" Diana cheerfully asked her fellow blonde how she was doing. Judging from her magic signature, she seemed to have gotten stronger since the last time they had met. Aliarey must have competed several difficult jobs to get this strong in such a relatively short time.

[Post Word Count: 512]
[Diana's Word Count: 960]

Well her head didn't explode from saying that revelation out loud. Diana didn't shoot her dead either so maybe she wasn't stalking her after all. Phew. That would have been a pain in the rear if it turned out Diana was a hired assassin or something that had her as a target. Sure it was a weird and outrageous theory with a ton of flaws, but in a weird way it made sense to her. A lot more sense than believing it was fate and some deity was pulling strings to have them in the same place all the time anyway. Still, there was the matter that they at least agreed on the whole thing being a little more than odd. How annoying though. It would all be left a mystery yet again. Maybe the NEXT festival would have a note for them with an explanation.

A brow arched as Diana asked her next question, quite cheerfully. Was the other woman normally cheerful? She didn't remember so. Maybe her memory was faulty, or maybe it was the curse of the season. Everyone has to be jolly jolly. "Oh, you know," Alia began to say with a small sigh as she stood up and stretched her arms high in the air. She had been sitting there for what seemed like ages. Well aside from that split second she took to hide the sweater, which she had forgotten about during the conversation. "Same old thing, different day." Her left hand went to her hip and remained there as she focused on Diana. "Just doing some jobs here and there for cash and doing what I'm told when doing the ones that don't exactly pay me. Bunch of cheapskates but I guess that's what happens when you have 'family'. Gotta do stuff for free and hope they let you play with the newest fire powered toys when they're made. So, I guess things are going.... Good? I'm alive is all I can take as a positive. Was hoping to uh... Get some ideas for a couple of Christmas gifts while here but so far kind of out of luck there."

Alia paused for a moment as she eyed the other blonde. Had she gotten stronger? She couldn't tell. Diana always seemed to be more experienced and calm that it just seemed like an obvious assumption that she was more powerful. The last time she tried to actually use something to gauge someone's magic affinity and power the device broke while in progress. That would probably be the same case for Diana. So was it even worth the trouble of asking what she had been up to? Probably off saving the world every week of something.

Instead, Alia went for a different question. "What brings you here besides the mysterious invisible lasso that always brings us together to say hi?" A playful smirk appeared in her face. "Shopping for someone? It's not me, is it? The surprise is kind of, sort of ruined if it is. BUT! I don't mind. I'll accept all gifts even without the explosive mind wow factor." Alia knew well enough that she wasn't on the shopping list, but, you know, there was that chance she was right. It was a fun theory in her mind. She waited for the real answer to the question. What was the green eyed blonde doing there? Surely it wasn't to make a sweater.

(Word Count: 570
Aliarey Total: 1711)

Diana listened quietly with no discernible change in facial expression when she heard Aliarey tell about how her life and career were currently going. Diana could identify with the part where her fellow blonde was doing good because she was still alive. The huntress knew exactly how that felt... she had been on death's door once thanks to "Raven Squad" and only a literal divine intervention from a lunar goddess named Selene had kept Diana in the realm of the living. After that unpleasant experience surviving long enough to take down her enemies was the best that Diana could aspire to, but the huntress was daring (or desperate) enough to want something out of life other than just survival.

Diana also heard the part about working for family and it took everything she had not to visibly frown. She recalled how working for "family" went and what it had cost her. Diana had a special hatred for her mother Elizabeth, who was the one to come up with the idea of using their ten-year old daughter to eliminate business rivals with the youth's death-dealing magic. She also disliked her father George, who went along with his wife's plan instead of trying to rein her in for his daughter's sake.

Diana also heard Aliarey say that she was looking for Christmas gift ideas. The huntress did not know what that was like because her family was dead and even if they were still alive they would be quite difficult to shop for. The Winchesters were rich enough to buy whatever they wanted whenever they wanted, but that was back when they were still alive and could pass as a large, happy family... at least on the surface.

Diana decided to quit thinking about her family while she still could and focused on the question Aliarey had asked her, which was why the huntress was here. That was honestly a very good question, one that Diana had not asked herself yet. Why was she here?

She had no family to shop for. She had no friends to shop for. Christmas was not even her favorite holiday... not that she even had a favorite holiday to begin with. Every day was the same as the day before it. Diana did not even observe her birthday because there was nothing to celebrate.

Pulling herself away from thoughts of emptiness and lack of purpose, Diana gave Aliarey the best answer she could.

"I am here to do something different. I spend most of my time working, so today I decided to do something other than work. I tend to do a lot of search and rescue work." Diana replied to Aliarey's question. For once there was no half-truth to conceal something unpleasant that Diana did not want Aliarey to find out. Diana was being completely truthful with her fellow blonde when the former claimed that she wanted to do something besides work all the time and that she did a lot of search and rescue work. She recalled her fellow blonde asking if she was shopping for someone.

"I am also shopping for myself." Diana replied in another statement that was completely true. She wanted something to make her feel alive. She wanted something that made her feel real instead of like something masquerading as a human. However, she was not sure if that "something" would come from a store... it was a total cliche, but maybe that "something" was an item that just could not be bought with physical currency.

"Maybe you can help me find what I am looking for." Diana calmly said to Aliarey. Diana could hardly believe what she had just said. Was she trying to genuinely connect with Aliarey instead of just going through the motions of acting like a normal person?

[Post Word Count: 632]
[Diana's Word Count: 1,592]

Rolling for Guess the Gift

The member 'Aliarey Casady' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

---

'Normal Dice' :

"Oh, so you're one of those workaholic hero types, huh? I guess I can understand wanting a break from that." She wouldn't judge too much. She enjoyed having days off. She had many of them. That was why she had several times throughout the year where she was entirely broke. Like then. The main issue that caused some cringe was the search and rescue work. Personally, Aliarey didn't care for those types of jobs. She wasn't a hero and didn't care to be one. Diana, however, seemed to have taken several jobs with that category. The fellow blonde being the hero type was an interesting surprise. If someone had asked Aliarey to guess what type of work Diana did she wouldn't have made that her first guess. Something more quiet seemed to be more accurate. The total opposite of action packed search and rescues. Or maybe Aliarey's imagination on rescue missions was heavily exaggerating things.

Diana had mentioned that she was shopping for herself, which the requip mage could totally understand. She enjoyed shopping for herself all the time! "Aha! That's almost just as good a reason for being here as getting something for me is." Was Aliarey's comment one of selflessness that made her a true inspiration for all good influencers around the world? No. Not in the slightest. She was a pretty selfish soul and didn't mind one bit getting someone else to join the selfish side of the imaginary line. With a prideful smile, Aliarey moved her arm towards her chest. "It just so happens that I am amazing at finding gifts!" She frowned right after making that totally "factual" statement and her eyes went to look above her as she shook her head.  "Weeeellll, mostly for me really." Her gaze came back down to focus on Diana and her grin returned, although a bit more reassuring than arrogant pride. "But don't worry. I'm pretty sure we can find something for you here. It can't be that hard to shop for something for yourself. I ace it all the time so that kind of makes me a professional. This will be easy!" What Aliarey did not understand was the possibility what the fellow blonde was looking for something more significant than everyday items in shops.. She herself was a material object kind of girl. Therefore her mind went instantly to that sort of thing. Being able to comprehend something else that could be obtained without typical physical currency was difficult for her and nearly impossible without being told about it.

A thought slapped the thinking mass that was supposedly inside her skull. More like a realization. A memory of about... well however long ago it was between then and when she started making that awful sweater. "Actually, I have to put that on hold for like... a few minutes. There was something else I needed to do real quick now that this sweater making thing is over. You can come though if you want." Alia shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows?  Maybe you'll win something to make the day worth it." Turning her body slightly, Alia pointed over past the tree decorating setup where the gift thingy game was being held. "There's this gift guessing thing over that way. Just pick a gift and guess what's in it. If you're smart, lucky, or psychic, you'll guess right and be able to keep what's in it. Not going to lie. If I win anything I plan on re-gifting it. I'm short on cash so this is pretty much the only way I'm going to get anyone anything." Aside from stealing, of course, but she wasn't going to mention that. If she won anything better than a coffee mug then it was going to be awesome. "So I'll be back in a jiffy. I can always come find you if you wander off so don't like stand here looking like a doofus or anything. Or you can just come with. Doesn't matter."

Regardless of Diana's decision, Aliarey went off towards the activity. Until she realized she had forgotten the sweater still laying on the chair. She was quick to go back to retrieve it, hide it behind her back as she walked away from the scene, and used her magic to put it into her requip storage. No one would see it! NO ONE!

Anyway, when she did make it to the gift guessing activity she just went right on in. No one stopped her, and she didn't see the point in looking around for someone to tell her what to do. How hard was guessing what's in a box supposed to be? Like seriously. It didn't take massive brain power or instructions to figure out how to play the game. "Lets see here." Alia leaned over some of the gifts, trying to pick on that caught her eye more than the rest. "Aha! Gotcha!" In delight, the blonde grabbed a pretty little red package with silver bows and ribbons on it. It's glittery speckles shone under the sun, hurting her eyes actually when she went to pick it up and the angle of the light upon it changed. She gave it a few shakes. Something thudded around the edges in there. It had some weight on it. Then the music of Santa Claus is Coming to Town could be heard. Muffled through the packaging, of course, but still could be heard clearly with her ear pressed against the box. "This has got to be a music box or something."

It didn't dawn on Aliarey that the gifts had enchantments and spells cast upon them. Nothing had indicated to hint that she was under a spell the moment she had picked up the box and shook it. There was nothing off about anything. Until she heard the sound of an old jolly man shout "ho ho ho" right into her brain. "Uhh..." That was weird. And creepy. Even creepier when she was asked if she had been a good girl that year. And then again mentioned her name was very close to being on the naughty list. Her expression went blank. Shooting her head to get rid of that voice was out of the question. Fuck!

(Word Count: 1036
Aliarey Total: 2747)

Ugly Sweater Making Completed for 2 Peppermints
Guess the Gift Completed for 3 Peppermints
5/5 Peppermints
2000 Event Personal WC completed

New WC: 747

"You could call me a hero. To some people I am a hero." Diana said, going back to half-truths with practiced ease. Diana was something of a hero, but it was not totally out of wanting to help others because it was the right thing to do. She was also doing it because such work happened to pay well. Another reason was that she was trying to redeem herself for killing numerous people who did not deserve to die at her parents' command. Diana had been too weak to tell them no and now she was paying the price... she was scrambling to save herself from the unpleasant afterlife that was surely waiting for her when she died.

Diana was sure that doing good deeds just to save herself would not reflect very well on her when she finally died, but she was not sure what else she could do to make amends. She was much too poor to compensate the families of her victims and she was pretty sure that they would not take the money if they knew what it was for. She was not about to turn herself in for her crimes either because that would accomplish nothing useful. Rescuing people in dire situations and taking out the worst of society would have to be penance enough for the huntress. If Selene was real and she said that Diana was not totally beyond redemption, then Diana was willing to take Selene's word for it, if only to have some kind of hope to cling to.

She had made her decision long ago and now she would have to live with it.

Diana heard Aliarey assure her that the blue-eyed blonde could help her find something for herself and was pleased to hear that. Diana then heard Aliarey request that the gift-finding mission be put on hold because something had attracted the latter's attention. The huntress soon learned that that "something" was a "Guess The Gift" kind of activity. The huntress was totally on board with that.

"I will follow you. I too am interested in this activity." Diana said to Aliarey, following the excitable blonde to the activity area and pretending not to see the atrocious sweater she had crafted before Diana's arrival. Aliarey had gone to great lengths to conceal it from Diana. The blue-eyed blonde had swiftly put it away with her magic and Diana pretended not to notice the entire episode.

Diana calmly walked over to the pile of gifts and tried to decide which one to claim as her gift. She glanced over the pile and eventually picked out a medium-sized red rectangular box tied with a green ribbon. Claiming it as her own, she grabbed it and walked back over to Aliarey, then began shaking the box to determine what was in it.

It sounded kind of soft like clothing, but it could also be the tissue paper used to reduce the noise that the item made when being shaken around. Diana would just have to give it another good shake or two to get a better idea of what was inside. She shook it a second time and got the same "soft" sound and heard paper crinkling, but she still did not have enough information with which to make a good guess. Suddenly Diana heard music and frowned... if no music was playing in the immediate area, where in the name of Ishgar was it coming from?

"Ho Ho Ho!" The laughter went in Diana's mind. Diana clenched her teeth. Not now.

"Have you been a good girl this year, Diana?" An older man's voice asked Diana in an utterly condescending voice like she was an eight-year-old. Diana frowned deeper... she hated being talked down to. Whoever this guy was had better talk to her like she was an adult or she would do something drastic like drink alcohol to make him stop.

"I'll have to check my list and I'll have to check it twice. I'm not sure if you've been naughty or nice!" The voice told her in a singsong voice that was referencing a well-known Christmas song. Diana was growing more and more unhappy with each passing moment. What had she done to deserve the voice in her head?

Then she thought about it a little.

She already knew that she would not like the answer.

[Post Word Count: 728]
2,000 Event Personal Word Count Completed

[Diana's New Word Count: 320]

Okay. All right. There was a jolly old man singing and talking in her head. It wasn't something that made her crazy. It was totally and completely one hundred percent normal. Like seriously. Surely if she were crazy she would have something way better than that going through her head. There was no reason to panic. No reason to find whoever was responsible and threaten to shoot them if they didn't take off that... spell? Curse? Whatever enchantment that was used to throw her into that nightmare? It would all wear off soon. Right? No reason to get violent and end up taking a walk with the local authorities. Ha ha. Hahaha. Ha. Yeah, pretending to be positive about the situation was not making her feel anymore comfortable. It was miserable, and she was certain the fake everything is all right wide grin on her face made her actually look like she was crazy.

'I should really talk to Trey and the old man about making those lacnite thingymajigs make it impossible for something to just pop into my head like that.'

'Ho ho! You don't like having company in here? I think I make great company! I give very good advice this time of year!'

"Argh! Just how long is that voice going to be in my head?! The joke is over!" Alia whined out loud to herself, forgetting that Diana was right there to hear it. Truly she was exaggerating her exaggeration as one of complete suffering. It hadn't even been two minutes yet since the voice started talking to her. It was still annoying though and if the voice was left there too much longer she was worried that she too would start singing Christmas carols or have her mind filled with glittery tinsel and roasted chestnuts instead of her usual explosive weaponry imagination of being amazingly awesome.

She sulked for a moment, pitying herself for being the victim of such horror. Until Diana's presence finally sunk back in. Immediately she perked right up, dismissing all of those negative vibes in an effort to not seem like a whacko. Of course, she probably still looked like one regardless with how quickly she shifted moods and for the obvious way she was forcing herself to act normal. "Oh heeeeyyyy! I was not talking to myself and I definitely am not hearing voices in my head. Definitely." Her pearly whites could be seen as she grinned rather unconvincingly and once again had a more frightening look to her than a believable pleasant one. She wasn't a good liar. Lying was something she didn't like doing at all so there wasn't much practice there oddly enough considering her past habits of stealing and cheating. It was probably why she was so good at running instead. It was always the fallback when things went wrong. Or exploding things. Or shooting. Or... actually the point is pretty clear, and it was a wonder why she was trying to explain something like that to herself.

'Oh? You're trying to lie now? That is not going to help you get on the nice list. Shameful. I had such high hopes!' The voice in her head was now pretending to cry in utter disappointment.

The image of shooting herself like a cartoon character was coming back into her mind. Maybe she could survive it... if she somehow developed cartoon character abilities and immortality in the next two minutes. That would probably be a little out of her reach. For now, she'd have to try and ignore it. Once again over exaggerating her excitement and pleasant mood, Alia took a step towards Diana and peered down at the gift she held. It was nothing too special. A medium sized rectangular box with red wrapping and green ribbon around it. Well, maybe what was inside it would be super amazing. Maybe they'd get lucky and Diana would spontaneously find what she was looking for! Without any cruses, of course. Or maybe Diana already was cursed like her. It was reaaalllyy hard to tell, and the blue eyed blonde wasn't about to ask and reveal her temporary insanity.

"Did you guess already on what's inside? Open it already before I do!" It was the moment of truth! Would Diana win the game? Would whatever was inside be super special awesome?! Alia did still have her own gift to open up... if she weren't completely afraid of it now after the whole voice getting into her head after having just shook the damn thing.

(Word Count: 755
Alia Total: 1502)

As she tried to deal with the holly, jolly voice in her head, Diana listened to Aliarey tell someone that "the joke was over" before the blue-eyed blonde realized that there was someone else with her and tried to downplay what she had just said.

Diana kept quiet and listened to Aliarey give a suspiciously specific denial of what she was going through. While the huntress did not say it, she put two and two together and suspected that Aliarey was going through the same ordeal she was. That ordeal was listening to some old guy list their mistakes and pass judgment on them with condescending commentary.

"Someone's being a naughty girl! I don't think that you're trying very hard to be on the Nice list!" The voice said with the same condescending voice that drove Diana to want to drink. Diana knew every last one of her sins. She did not need some patronizing old man to tell her what she had done wrong.

One of Diana's biggest mistakes was being born to George and Elizabeth Winchester.

Another big mistake was Diana being too weak to refuse her mother's "requests" to eliminate her rivals.

Her third mistake was not walking away from the double life while she could have. After her parents had died she had been handed a gift-wrapped opportunity to walk away from the double life without anyone knowing her crimes. What did she do instead of doing the sensible thing and trying to live a normal life? Dig herself even deeper into a life in the shadows.

Diana had a lot to answer for. She had been too weak to put her foot down when her mother demanded that someone die for the crime of being in her way. Diana knew that if she refused to do as she was told Elizabeth would tie Diana's hands behind her back, drown her "rebellious" daughter in a bathtub, and start over with the next Winchester daughter who showed a magic with death-dealing abilities.

It was easy for someone to say that they would rather die than do something unsavory. Diana wondered how many of those people had been faced with the prospect of actually dying for refusing to do something unsavory. When faced with either killing someone her parents wanted to die or ending her life face-down in a bathtub full of water, Diana chose to kill others so that she could live.

The trouble with that was that she kept on killing well after she could have stopped without repercussions. Diana had chosen to dig herself deeper into a lifestyle she could have left behind and she knew it. No matter if her targets were mafiosi or slavers, Diana had chosen to stay in her lifestyle and would one day suffer the consequences of her choice.

Diana took a deep breath to keep her personal demons from overwhelming her during what was supposed to be a happy time of year.

"Certainly, Aliarey. I will open my box to see what is inside." Diana said calmly, choosing to overlook what Aliarey had said to avoid reminding herself of what she was having to hear. Diana shook her gift box again to try and get a better idea of what was inside. The huntress thought that she could hear the sound of liquid sloshing from inside the package. Diana was thinking that it was some sort of perfume, but then her mind went to another place.

What if it was a bottle of alcohol?

"Drinking alcohol's what naughty girls do! Are you a naughty girl?" The voice asked Diana. Diana clenched her teeth again.

Would this guy EVER shut up?

"I am thinking that inside the box is a bottle of wine." Diana made her guess to Aliarey. She then put her fingertips under the lid, pried it off, and gently placed the lid under the gift box. Diana dug through layers of wrapping paper until her fingers felt a glass bottle. Her fingers felt for the neck and soon found it.

Diana grabbed the neck of the bottle and gently lifted her prize out of the box. She lifted it upright and read the label. It was a bottle of wine labeled "Monarch '83" and below the name was a small image of a stern-looking man in fine medieval attire. He wore a crown on his head whle sitting on a throne and holding a scepter in his right hand.

Oh, how George Winchester would have loved to get his hands on what Diana was holding. Monarch wine was George's favorite drink, a drink that he liked even more than coffee.

"Would you look at that, Aliarey? It is a bottle of Monarch '83. This is a decent wine. It is not the best, but it is not some cheap swill either." Diana calmly asked Aliarey, telling the blue-eyed blonde a bit about the wine while concealing its true significance from her companion. Diana was not sure what to make of her prize. The only way it could have been worse was if her prize was a bottle of Imperator '88, the same wine that had been poisoned by Mr. Gorman and had killed her family over four years ago.

[Post Word Count: 872]
[Diana's New Word Count: 1,192]

And so Aliarey watched Diana as she started to humor her and get to the process of guessing what was in that super amazing gift box of Christmas mystery. It was a strange thing to be so excited about watching someone else open a gift. After all, the blue eyed one of the blonde duo was probably also the most selfish of the two as well. She should have been considering it a waste of time to care about what was in Diana's gift. However! Maybe it'd be a good gift. Maybe she could talk Diana into giving it to her so she could re-gift it Trey or the Professor. Maybe it was even one of those that was shareable so she wouldn't even have to make the demand!

The sounds of swishing and sloshing liquid could be heard from the package as Diana shook it. "Eh?" That caused the blonde to lose her eagerness just a bit. Who put liquid items in a box? In a pile of other random presents that could have squished it and made it explode everywhere?! The fact the package wasn't leaking was a Christmas miracle in its own right.

Diana made her guess known. Her conclusion was that the item inside was a bottle of wine. Huh, well that was an interesting gift to get if that's what it was. "Well it's better than what I would have guessed. I was starting to think it was nothing more than a bottle of liquid watery soap." The cheap stuff that washed away or miraculously disappeared before it could even be used to properly fulfill its purpose. Not the good stuff that could complete the normal twenty second cycle. There was still a mild disappointment in her tone though. The wine was probably horrible cheap stuff too. Her interest nearly dropped to zero in that instant. She still watched though, just with less eagerness and excitement showing.

The package had been carefully opened, revealing what had truly been inside as Diana grabbed and pulled it out. Wow. Her guess had been accurate. It really did look like a bottle of wine. "Huh, it really was wine." Aliarey took a step forward and leaned in a bit to get a better look at it. "It's that good, huh?" She asked, showing that her knowledge about wines was clearly lacking. "I'm kind of surprised something like that was in the freebie pile. Imagine if a kid got it. That'd be hilarious but I think there might be a complaint or two after the fact." A grin smoothly spread across her face at the thought. Yep. Pretty funny. But what were the holidays without a parent or ten million going into an uproar over presents for their little spawns from hell?

Alia walked behind Diana and to her other side to get a different angle view of the bottle. She could see the full label now. It looked fancy. She guessed. They all kind of did to her. Even in taste she doubt that she could tell the difference between a good bottle of wine and the ones that pompous rich people or wine experts called swill. "This isn't one those types that sits in some random room in a house forever just so people can brag about its age, is it?"

(Word Count: 554
Aliarey Total: 2056)

Diana was surprised to find a bottle of wine in the boxes that were part of Guess The Gift. With all the children around she was not expecting to find a bottle of wine as a possible prize, but here she was staring at a bottle of Monarch '83 held in her hand. Diana was pretty sure that this was a one-time deal and that the next event like this would not have alcohol as a possible prize. Even with the kind of "luck" needed to win a decent bottle of wine like Monarch, Diana was not exactly thrilled to be holding a wine that her father liked because it brought back a lot of bad memories of home.

Diana turned away from the bottle and towards Aliarey, who had stated her belief that the green-eyed blonde had opened a package containing a bottle of soap. When she first shook the package Diana had no idea what she had gotten because a bottle of holiday-themed liquid soap and a bottle of wine sounded largely the same when shaken. The huntress had only won her prize by sheer "luck" and was not particularly thrilled by it. She would have much preferred the soap or a holiday-themed coffee gift pack.

"I too am surprised to find this bottle of wine as a gift. I am pretty sure that this is a one-time deal, though." Diana expressed both her surprise at winning the unexpected gift and her belief that this would not happen ever again. Diana wondered if Aliarey liked wine, but she did not have time to ask that question yet because the blue-eyed blonde had raised a valid point about the possibility of a complaint or two being raised about alcohol being a prize at a family-friendly event. The huntress also had to put up with the holly jolly voice in her head that just would not leave her alone, which threw off her concentration further.

"Do you plan to drink that wine in front of families with children? That's very naughty!" The voice told her. Diana frowned at the voice telling her what was naughty and what was nice. She was tempted to open the wine and take a giant swig in public just to spite him, but then she decided to hold off on that for the time being.

"There will be complaints about this event no matter what happens, Aliarey. There will be complaints about wine being offered as gifts. There will be complaints that the gifts were not "expensive" enough or varied enough. There will be complaints that there were not enough gifts to go around for Guess The Gift. People will inevitably find something to complain about." Diana let the urbane mask she wore slip for just a moment to show how she really felt about possible complaints regarding the event. This event was a lot better than holidays at the Winchester Estate. She could not remember any moments of holiday happiness at the Winchester Estate after her mother Elizabeth discovered her deadly magic. This was the most holiday fun Diana had had in over a decade and she was not going to let complaints ruin it for her.

Diana shoved those memories aside and calmed down enough to put the mask back on and address the question about the wine she now held.

"Monarch is not meant to be a collector's wine, Aliarey. It is meant to be consumed before it goes bad. I guarantee you that the wines that accumulate value by sitting in climate-controlled cellars are not prizes for Guess The Gift." Diana told her companion with the kind of knowledge gained from firsthand experience living with an amateur wine connoisseur. Well, she had never drunk a bottle of Monarch before, but her late father George certainly did. He had said multiple times that it was not meant to be a collector's item and no one in the Winchester family knew more about wine than George. However, at times his wife could give him a run for his money when it came to drinking wine.

Diana looked down at the bottle for a moment and looked for an expiration date or other date when the wine would lose any pleasant taste and become awful swill. She could not find one and she did not care to keep looking. Diana would just take her chances with the bottle of wine because it was no less dangerous than any of the jobs she had taken over her career. She noticed that Aliarey had taken an interest in the bottle and looked at the blue-eyed blonde again.

"Aliarey, would you like some of the wine?" Diana asked Aliarey. Diana was not a big drinker. She was not even a drinker at all. The huntress' initial plan was to not drink any at all and just throw the wine away once she had left the party, but after noticing Aliarey's interest in the bottle of Monarch the huntress decided to offer some to her longtime acquaintance. Aliarey might appreciate the wine more than Diana did.

[Post Word Count: 848]
[Diana's New Word Count: 2,040]

"Uhhh...." Aliarey was at a temporary loss for words. That was rare. Normally rendering her speechless was the result of making her super cautious or fearful. Was it something she had said? The whole statement regarding parents complaining was meant to be a joke. A complaint in a way, perhaps, but still made in jest. It certainly wasn't meant as something to be taken so seriously. Based on Diana's words and her tone she didn't see the humor in it. Actually, that was probably the most emotion she had ever seen Diana show. Normally she was in a constant state of... contentment? The blue eyed blonde couldn't really say that Diana looked genuine happy. Not that Aliarey really thought about it too much before then. "I guess so."

Diana's quick shift in demeanor aside, there was truth in her words. People would find something to complain about even if they were living in a perfect world. Aliarey was one of those types. She loved to complain. Maybe that was why she found humor in her own words to begin with even if Diana did not share the same thoughts. Wanting to move on from... whatever that was, Aliarey put on a cheerful grin. "Well, it's not like that's our problem anyway, am I right?" And so her interest had shifted to the wine. The new hot topic of the day.

She listened to Diana explain that the wine in her hands was the sort that was meant to be consumed and was not a collector's item. In fact, the chance of a collector's wine being part of the Guess the Gift game was in the negatives of no chance. Aliarey couldn't tell the difference. Wine was wine to her. "Huh, I didn't know that. Hell, I didn't even know wine came with expiration dates. You must drink it a lot to know so much." A step was taken back now that she had gotten a look at the bottle for herself. Diana examined it some more. Maybe looking for one of those expiration dates or maybe she just liked the look of the bottle? She couldn't begin to comprehend what those knowledgeable in the topic of wine thought when looking at a bottle. The one thing she got from the conversation was that it really wasn't worth selling. Probably not a very great gift either to give to Trey or the Professor. Eh, oh well.

It was then that another brilliant and totally amazing thing happened. Diana had asked if she wanted some! Well, drinking some for herself hadn't been the original plan, but it was just as good. The divine taste of wine wasn't one she had ever experienced before. She wasn't exactly a big drinker. Mostly because she was banned from it in case she got drunk and went a little crazy with her magic and weapons. She'd just ignore those rules for the time being. "Heck yeah!" Came her excited response. "We kind of need some glasses though. I may not know much about the whole wine thing, but I do know it's usually poured in those fancy glass cups. It'd also probably be kind of weird if we both drank straight from the bottle." A mild look of disgust crept its way over Aliarey's facial features. While she didn't come right out and say it she actually thought the whole drinking after someone else from the same cup or bottle was a bit gross. Having her own was way preferred. Although, she wasn't quite sure if Diana was having some of the wine or not. It was hers so it was just easy to assume that she was.

"Want to see if we can find some before we open that there bottle?" Yes, she was still ignoring the wrapped package she held. Still she avoided opening it. It was a miracle enough that the voice from earlier hadn't bothered her in the last few minutes. What if opening the gift ruined that? Besides, it didn't seem to be wine glass shaped so it could wait.

(Word Count: 679
Aliarey Total: 2735)

Diana, seeing that her brief rant about people who complained about anything and everything might have made Aliarey feel awkward and might have ruined the good mood that had prevailed up to that point, quickly decided to move on when Aliarey said "I guess so." Diana did not mean to launch into a rant, but on this occasion she could not hold her real opinion back. Now that a convenient way to avoid further awkwardness had been handed to her Diana gladly took it.

Aliarey rhetorically inquired whether the outrage of parents over the inclusion of alcohol as a gift in Guess The Gift was really their problem. Diana smiled a little because Aliarey had made a good point. Diana was not worried about people being outraged at her. She was more worried about the hapless event staff who had tried to make the event fun for everyone with varied gift ideas because they would take the heat for the questionable gift idea whether they really deserved it or not.

"Their outrage is not my problem." Diana said calmly. She cared a little about what other people thought... up to a point. As long as no one got killed or badly hurt and the authorities were not called the huntress did not care whether parents were outraged over alcohol or not. Diana then left the subject of parental outrage behind to talk more about the bottle of wine in her right hand.

"Wine has a certain date you have to drink it by before it turns to absolute swill. I never drank wine myself, but I knew many people who did." Diana explained how she had gained the knowledge that wine needed to be drunk before a certain date. It was not like she had ever had much of it and when she got her magic at ten years old she never had it again. That was not a big loss for Diana... when she saw how her parents behaved towards her while under its influence she wanted no part of wine. Diana had made it a point to avoid alcohol of any sort, but for this event she might actually drink a little wine with Aliarey, an acquaintance of hers she had taken something of a liking to. Speaking of Aliarey, her enthusiasm for the idea of sharing the Monarch wine was immediate and palpable.

Diana wordlessly turned the neck of the bottle up and moved to open it with her left hand when Aliarey spoke so suddenly that Diana stopped in her tracks. Diana took her left hand away from the mouth of the wine bottle and listened to what her companion had to say. As it turned out, Aliarey had a couple of points to make.

Aliarey's first point was that they did not have any drinking cups to pour the wine in. The second point was about how both of them drinking from the bottle would be weird, not to mention unhygienic. They were sort of close, but they were not that close. Far from being offended, Diana found both points to be points she readily agreed with.

"You are right, Aliarey. We should look for something like wine glasses or at least festive drinking cups before we share the wine." Diana seconded Aliarey's suggestion to find something to drink the wine in before the bottle was opened.

"You shouldn't drink that wine in public, young lady. If you do you'll earn a spot on my naughty list. You don't want to be on the naughty list, do you?" The male voice asked in a patronizing tone. Diana was so incensed by the patronizing tone of the question that she pointedly ignored the man and continued trying to find out the quickest way to get drinking glasses for the wine. The voice had overstayed his welcome and now Diana was acting out of spite for him.

"Where do you think we can find some glasses or cups?" Diana asked Aliarey. The green-eyed blonde had not seen any tables for holiday-themed food like Christmas cookies or drinks like eggnog or hot chocolate, but just because she had not seen them did not mean that there were not any at the event. Perhaps Aliarey had seen some on the way to the event. If they could not find any cups around the event area Diana was sure that they could go to a convenience store or some other store and pick up some disposable cups to drink wine out of. While disposable cups were nowhere near as classy as wine glasses, Diana was not terribly concerned about looking classy and Aliarey likely did not care either as long as she got to drink some of the Monarch wine.

[Post Word Count: 790]
[Diana's New Word Count: 2,830]

The ultimate question had been asked. They knew they needed cups or glasses, but where were they going to get them? Technically a lot of places closed on the actual Christmas holiday, but it wasn't that day yet. It was just close. Shops all around town were open still in order to get some business with the shoppers that went about their last minute craziness. "Well this is Magnolia Town. It's not exactly dead. There's plenty of shops around that have to have some glasses... for a price." That realization made Alairey's eye twitch. She was too broke to buy damn wine glasses! Or styrofoam cups for that matter.

The blonde rubbed the back of her neck as she tried to quickly think of something else. "There's probably a stand somewhere selling hot chocolate or something. A lot of times it's free or like super cheap. I know last year had a freebie station like that. We'll just grab some and reuse the cups from that. You cool with that?" It wasn't fancy or anything. The complete and total opposite. When you had no jewels to spare for glass cups though that was kind of the result. Her room at one of the local inns also didn't exactly come with cups either so that was a bust, and her actual home was a few towns over in Talonia. "Unless you want to buy brand new cups or something. I'm kind of broke and to be honest I'm hoping to run into a freebie stand with cookies or something. I'm hungry." Ah yes. It was getting to be lunch time right about then. A hungry Aliarey was a dangerous Aliarey. The original plan had been to swipe some lunch somewhere without paying for it, buuuuttt things were a bit more complicated now that Diana was there. She should have told Diana that she'd help her find the ultimate Christmas present after lunch. A little too late now though. Plus she really wanted to try some of that wine. While it was free. And right there being so easily offered.

"This seems to be the game area of the festival though so lets go further into town and see what we can find. If you're okay with that, that is." Alia didn't particularly care what Diana did. She was free to do as she wanted. The other blonde owned that wine bottle though so it was best to see if she was along for the plan or if she had her own ideas before taking off.

While the two blondes and everyone else in town were enjoying the festival of Christmas spirit something else was going on. Something hidden and clouded behind all the good cheer and fun. Normally such a trickster spirit had its fun on the day of tricks itself, not so much Christmas. Or so everyone assumed. The special holiday of carols and spirits had its own tricks, and this all powerful and mysterious being intended to have a bit of fun with it. The trickster hadn't had much fun in quite some time. Not since the time it had helped create the monster known as a Recheeserator. It was a shame the two Wizard Saints from back then had not been located. Oh well. Maybe next time. For now it would find new targets for its games.

Invisible to everyone in town, the trickster soared through the air, bringing a chill to everyone it touched along the way. All of them assumed it to be the frosty chill of the weather and did not question the sudden drop of temperature. By the time it got to Diana and Aliarey it noticed a still wrapped package being held by one. At first sight it had assumed it had been a gift from one to the other, but a second glance around told it that the prize was from the Guess the Gift game. The wrapping paper had been the same and there was a sense of a small enchantment upon the package. Closer it got and even poked the package. A small tune could be heard coming from the box. The festival had drowned it out for the most part, but with its proximity the trickster could hear it clearly. Aha! A music box! Perfect. A plan began to form and the box was touched again. A new enchantment was placed over the old one, overpowering it and making it the dominant effect. Now all that was left was for the owner of the present to open it.

(Word Count: 759
Aliarey Total: 3494)

"That is a fair point." Diana conceded to Aliarey when the latter stated that this was Magnolia Town and that there had to be some shops that had glasses, but it went without saying that should they choose that option they were going to pay for them. Aliarey did not seem to have the money for glasses or cups. Diana did not bring a whole lot of money with her tonight because wherever large crowds gathered there would be thieves looking to pick pockets and Diana did not want to lose her hard-earned money to a thief. She had plenty of money saved away so that a loss of pocket money would not hurt her very much, but she could not stand the thought of losing any amount of money to a thief.

Aliarey proposed a less expensive solution to their problem. She proposed that the pair walk around the festival and look for a stand selling hot chocolate and get a cup apiece. They would drink the hot chocolate, then turn around and use those same cups for the wine Diana was carrying. The taste of hot chocolate and Monarch wine might not be the best combination, but Aliarey's solution was certainly less time-consuming and a lot cheaper than going from store to store searching for wine glasses or cups and then buying them. It was a bit wasteful to buy cups when they could get them for free or for very cheap just by strolling around town.

"I do not mind reusing cups from a hot chocolate stand, Aliarey. I just hope that you do not mind the taste of wine mixing with the taste of hot chocolate." Diana agreed with her fellow blonde's idea but added a warning that the mixed flavors might not be very good. Still, if Aliarey was willing to take that chance, so was Diana. Getting cups for free or for very cheap would certainly make the venture worthwhile. Aliarey then added that she was also hoping to come across a freebie stand with cookies because she was hungry. Diana would not object to getting cookies either... she too was getting a little hungry.

"I too hope we can find a stand that gives away cookies for free. If we cannot get them for free, I would settle for a stand that sells them at a small price." Diana said to Aliarey. Both blondes wanted cookies but did not have any idea where to find them. They would just have to keep their eyes open for a cookie stand while looking for hot chocolate. Aliarey proposed that they leave the game area and head deeper into town to see what they could find... if Diana was OK with doing that. Diana was perfectly fine with doing that because she was ready to move on from the game area and find some cups with which to share the Monarch wine with Aliarey.

"Sure. We can go further into town and see what we can find, Aliarey. To be honest I have had enough of the games for awhile." Diana agreed with Aliarey's idea to search deeper in Magnolia Town for what they were after. Suddenly the temperature dropped and Diana shivered a little. She was glad that she had worn her purple long-sleeved t-shirt because if she had not worn it she would be a lot colder. However, her legs were a bit cold... maybe she should invest in another pair of pants or two before Christmas rolled around again.

"It certainly got cold all of a sudden. I wonder why that is." Diana casually remarked to Aliarey, not really expecting an answer to the question. If Aliarey could explain why it had suddenly gotten cold that would be great. If she could not explain the sudden drop in temperature it was no big deal.

"Maybe you should give up on the wine cups and go home. That's what nice young women do. They don't look for ways to drink alcohol in a family-friendly environment!" The male voice made yet another attempt to convince her to give up on drinking the wine. Diana was not having it. He had pushed her too far and now she was going to have a drink of the wine, if only out of spite for the obnoxious and patronizing voice.

[Post Word Count: 722]
[Diana's New Word Count: 3,552]

"Ah, no biggie on that problem." Aliarey waved away the concern about hot chocolate mixing with the taste of wine. The plan was washing the cups out. That was easy. She even had a way to do it right when they needed it. Sure using a water gun, especially of the magical variety, might be not the best way to do it, but it'd do. They were having to improvise anyway just with the cup issue by itself. If the water gun trick didn't work they could easily find a working sink somewhere to get the job done.

As for finding some food stands, Diana was on board with that too. That meant leaving the game area was no issue at all and they could be on their way. "Great! I'm sure we'll find what we're looking for." The sudden cold chill put a halt to her positivity for a moment. Aliarey shivered. She wasn't exactly wearing something suitable for the cold and a chilly wind did not help keep her warm. It wasn't too bad though. Once they got moving she'd warm up. "Yeah it did get a bit on the chilly side," Aliarey agreed, but she wasn't overly suspicious or concerned about it. That was how the weather worked, didn't it? Or maybe someone with weather controlling magic was doing stuff. Who really knew? Not her, and she didn't really care to look into it.

"I don't think it's anything we need to really care about. It's just a bit of chilly air. Unless we decide to become weather girls for the local news report it's not really something we need to think about too much." Aliarey got in front of Diana and started to walk backwards while motioning her hands for the other blonde to follow. "Let's just focus on finding some cups and, if we're lucky, a good ol' festive snack." She twirled around right after that and took a step forward. That single step then became many as she repeated the process as if she owned the place. The crowd was no match for her when she was hungry and desired something. She now had a mission! Strangely no one from the Guess the Gift game tried to stop her and make sure she had guessed correctly before waltzing off with the freebie present. Huh. Weird. Oh well. Not her problem.

The area of town that had the festival games was left and soon they were further into town where most of the holiday shopping was taking place. That was where they would have to stop. A Christmas parade was blocking the main path to the rest of town. It was nice and lively. The costumes, music, and magic that was added for the effects were neat. But watching a parade was not why they were there. Maybe they could watch some of it later. It was bound to be a long parade and surely finding cups and snacks wouldn't take an age and a half to do. Aliarey forced her gaze away from the spectacular parade that had gained her attention. "Right. No time for that."

The search for cups and snacks was easily done. Because the parade was traveling through that point there were stands all around offering goodies for the spectators. Some came with a price, but there were basic freebies too. Hot chocolate was one of them so people wouldn't get too cold while watching the parade. "I'll go grab some cups. You go look for the snacks." Alia told her festival companion. Then she was off to do just as she said while fully confident that Diana would do as she said. There was no point in both of them going to the same stand if they could split up.

Regardless if Diana followed Aliarey or went off on her own the blue eyed blonde would be successful in her mission. She now had two cups of hot cocoa, one being held in each hand. Under one arm was a full unopened bag of empty cups. Under the other was her still unwrapped present from the Guess the Gift Game. "I found the cups!" Alia shouted proudly to get Diana's attention wherever she was. "Have to give a cup of wine to the hot chocolate stand operator though, but I think that's a decent trade!" Did she care that she was being loud enough to draw attention even with all the music from the parade overpowering nearly all sound in town? Nah, not at all.

(Word Count: 755
Alia Total: 4249)

Once Aliarey had indicated that she would have no problem with the taste of wine mixing with the taste of hot chocolate, Diana let that matter drop and listened as the blue-eyed blonde commented on the sudden chill in the air. Aliarey casually dismissed the sudden chill as nothing to worry about unless they planned to become local weather girls. The blue-eyed blonde was all about finding cups to drink the wine in and possibly finding holiday snacks.

Without giving Diana any warning, Aliarey suddenly got in front of Diana and began to walk like she was on a mission. Knowing Aliarey and how she thought, she was on a mission of the utmost importance... to her. Diana hurried to keep up with her fellow blonde and weaved through the crowd with considerably less grace than Aliarey, but she managed to keep pace nonetheless.

-In the shopping district-

After a few minutes of walking at a brisk pace the two blondes had left the festival games area behind and were now in the shopping district, but Diana was momentarily distracted from her task by a sight she had never seen before. The area was currently hosting a Christmas parade and whoever had planned the parade had spared no expense to make it appropriately festive. The costumes, the music, and the magic were all appropriate and top-grade. Diana noticed that the parade snaking in front of them had cut off access to the rest of the shopping district, which caused the huntress to frown slightly because she wanted to find the cups and the snacks as quickly as possible.

Diana did not have much time to admire the parade because Aliarey soon split the chores with her. Aliarey would get the cups and Diana would get the snacks. That was simple enough. Aliarey split off from Diana without any further delay and Diana began to look around for festive snacks like sugar cookies or gingerbread cookies.

Diana walked around the immediate area and followed her nose. She could smell something like freshly baked cookies, so the huntress decided to do what that cereal commercial with the talking bird said and followed her nose. After about three minutes of searching she found a stand that offered patrons the option of getting sugar cookies or gingerbread cookies. The sugar cookies were round and had designs of Christmas trees, snowmen, Christmas tree ornaments, and other appropriate holiday emblems on them. The gingerbread cookies took the shape of Christmas trees or gingerbread men.

The green-eyed blonde waited until it was her turn to get something before walking up to a stand run by an elderly woman with white hair hidden beneath a red Santa hat. She also wore black-rimmed glasses and a red sweater with blue jeans and brown loafers. Diana walked up to the counter and picked out a wrapped plate of six sugar cookies for herself and another wrapped plate of six sugar cookies for Aliarey. Diana offered to pay for them, but the old woman gave both plates to Diana for free because it was the season for giving. Diana thanked the woman and carefully stacked the plates on top of each other, then took them in her left hand and walked away to begin her search for Aliarey.

As it turned out, Diana did not need to search particularly hard because Aliarey shouted a message to her.

Aliarey had managed to find the cups. Diana heard her companion and took heed.

Aliarey soon added that the hot chocolate stand operator had requested a cup of wine for the cups, a trade that the blue-eyed blonde deemed equitable. Diana did not expect to have to share the wine with anyone other than Aliarey, but it was a small price to pay for decent drinking cups that had not been filled with hot chocolate beforehand. Diana wondered how Aliarey could shout loudly enough to be heard over the band in the parade, but that was a question for another time.

Diana spotted her companion and quickly made her way over to Aliarey without losing either the cookies or the bottle of wine clutched in her right hand. Once she reached Aliarey the huntress spoke to her.

"So we need to give the hot chocolate stand operator a cup of wine?" Diana asked Aliarey.

"Very well then. We will make the trade. Take me to them whenever you are ready." Diana expressed her willingness to make the trade Aliarey had told her about. Aliarey was right... trading a cup of wine for clean drinking cups was a good bargain. The same unopened bag of cups that Aliarey held under an arm would cost quite a bit at a store because of holiday demand for them... since Diana had gotten her wine for free as a prize for Guess The Gift, she would not lose anything by making the trade. Besides, it was Christmas and everyone deserved a little Christmas cheer.

[Post Word Count: 826]
[Diana's New Word Count: 4,378]

Diana didn't seem to mind the deal that Aliarey had made with the hot chocolate stand owner. Not that the thought of her having a problem with it came to mind in the first place. She was a bit taken aback when her companion was so willing to do it herself and wanted Alia to lead her to them. It wasn't so serious a trade that both of them needed to go. The plan had been for Diana to pour some into a cup and Alia herself would skip on over to quickly hand it over to the stand operator. Hell, Aliarey already had the cups so technically they didn't even have to fulfill their end of the deal.

Aliarey stared at Diana with a raised brow, thinking about just how the day was going so far and how stoic Diana seemed to be the entire time. Well almost the entire time. She had shown some frustration, but other than that she couldn't tell if Diana was even having fun or not. The other woman just seemed to follow her around and take cues from her without any sort of enthusiasm at all. Had their encounters always been like that? It was kind of worrisome.

Alia clicked her tongue and looked away. "Okay." Without saying anything more she walked over to a nearby bench that still had some space on it and put everything that was in her arms on its wooden surface.

Now that her arms were free she turned back to Diana with a more serious and concerned expression than her usual one of complete idiotic indifference. She'd raise her arm to Diana's shoulder and place her hand there if she were allowed to do so. Whether the reassuring interaction transpired or not though her words would be the same. In the end she didn't particularly care if the other moved away due to her invasion of the personal bubble space so there was little reason to properly acknowledge it. "You know, you can relax a bit while at a festival. It's not like this is a seriously important trade that requires all parties present to sign a contract with witnesses. Just pour a tiny bit into a cup and I'll just go deliver it real quick. Then we can get back to doing our own thing. Just try and have some fun with it. You seem bored, and that's not a good thing at this time of year. Or ever really."

(Word Count: 414
Aliarey Total: 4663)

Diana stood calmly while waiting for Aliarey to take the cup of wine to the hot chocolate stand vendor who had generously provided them with the cups. Then the green-eyed blonde realized that she had not yet poured out the wine into a cup. The deal could not be completed without the cup of wine, after all. But before she did she walked over to the bench where Aliarey had set the items down and set the two plates of sugar cookies down.

"Hang on a moment. I will open the bottle of wine so that we may complete the transaction." Diana informed Aliarey. Now that both hands were free, the huntress turned the bottle of wine upright and used her left hand to open the bottle, removing the cork with a loud POP that could barely be heard over the parade band. Diana took one of the empty cups from the package, poured out a quarter-cup of wine, and handed it back to the waiting Aliarey.

"Here is the cup of wine you need." Diana stated in a matter-of-fact tone. Perhaps she had been too generous with the amount of wine that had been poured, but Diana was not going to have that vendor accuse her of cheating them. They would get a quarter-cup full of wine but no more. That should be sufficient to honor the agreement Aliarey had made with the vendor.

Diana listened to Aliarey speak to her and reluctantly allowed the other blonde to touch her shoulder. However, the huntress could not prevent her skin from crawling when Aliarey placed the hand on her shoulder. That was a response that was going to take a long time to suppress... if she ever managed to suppress it. At the moment learning that skill was low on Diana's list of priorities.

Aliarey informed Diana that she was allowed to relax at festivals. She also counseled Diana to have fun with the festival because the blue-eyed blonde asserted that Diana appeared to be bored. Diana did not react to that assertion at all.

"I am fine, Aliarey. Believe me." Diana said to her companion in a calm voice. Diana always looked fine on the outside. It was a mask she had learned to wear even when she was not doing well.

On the inside Diana was a different story. She did not feel like it was worth getting invested in anything because anything she liked tended to either go away on its own or tended to get taken from her by circumstances beyond her control. Her childhood had been taken from her by her parents. Her "family" was taken from her by Mr. Gorman's poisoned wine. Clients came and went without even saying goodbye.

Why bother caring about anything if it was just going to be taken away from her sooner or later?

Aliarey had been working with Diana for a long time, but one day the blue-eyed blonde would get bored with Diana and move on to a partner she found more interesting.

Diana found that it was safer not to care about anything any more. It was safer to care only about survival and profit. Those things she could keep as long as she had the strength to keep them.

"You're a naughty girl for thinking that way! Nice people think about others and don't think about only themselves!" The patronizing male voice dispensed unwanted commentary on Diana's thoughts. The silence had been broken with yet more criticism of the huntress' thoughts by a voice she did not like or want. Diana was getting tired of the voice criticizing her, but it felt like there was nothing she could do to make him shut up. She would just have to grin and bear it until he went away on his own... whenever that was.

[Post Word Count: 638]
[Diana's New Word Count: 5,016]

"Right." Aliarey was not very convinced although she wasn't completely sure why. Maybe she just didn't like how robotic Diana was as a response even to that. She was fairly certain even the droids on Mirai showed more enthusiasm and emotion. It was not something she was used to dealing with, and it kind of made her uncomfortable in a way. There was only one solution. Well, technically two but Aliarey wasn't about to get too involved in trying to make Diana show something other than a calm stoic expression. She wasn't a therapist, psychiatrist, psychologist... whatever type of doctor that would be needed for that kind of thing. No. The solution she decided to take was easy. All she had to do was go back to not caring and be self absorbed as usual. It was as simple as that and came with zero guilt.

The blonde shrugged her shoulders and let the matter drop with little effort. She'd probably forget about the entire thing after the day was over and done with anyway. "Well, I'll just go deliver this. I'll be back in a jiffy." The small cup of wine was taken and then she spun around to go complete that whole delivery thing. It didn't take long. After all, she didn't intend to socialize with the vendor. All she had to do was drop it off and then run through the crowd and back to the bench where she had left Diana. The entire thing took about two minutes tops.

Once she was back, Alia took a seat on the bench while also grabbing one of the plates of sugar cookies that she could only assume was hers. The plate was laid upon her lap carefully so it wouldn't fall off, and then she went to work on unwrapping it so she could feed that growling stomach that didn't know how to shut up when it was near empty. "The guy said thanks by the way. He seemed way too excited about it, but I guess when you're serving hot chocolate all day you kind of want something else to drink." With the plate unwrapped Alia took hold of one of the cookies and held it up closer to her face. Not to bite into it just yet but just to look at it. The round baked goodie had an image of a smiling snowman on it. "Huh, these are kind of cute." And with that said she brought it to her open mouth and bit into the soft baked dough. The once cute cookie was cute no more.

"Oh yeah!" Alia shouted with her mouth full, recalling that she still needed her own cup of wine. That was the main reason they even went further into town! Satisfying her hungry stomach almost made her forget. She swallowed the cookie and glanced over at Diana. "You got that wine all ready to go?"

(Word Count: 486
Alia Total: 5149)

Diana could tell that Aliarey was not buying her assurance that the huntress was OK, but that was not the huntress' problem. If Aliarey was expecting Diana to break down sobbing and telling her that she was not really OK and that she was a mess who needed saving, Aliarey would have to look elsewhere. Diana was no one's "rescue" project. Diana had been on her own ever since she was ten years old and that was not likely to change any time soon.

Besides, the only person who had really cared about Diana had died long ago.

Diana waited patiently as Aliarey walked over to the hot chocolate vendor to deliver the promised cup of wine. As Aliarey walked away Diana felt a bit guilty about the way she had thought about the blue-eyed blonde. The blue-eyed blonde had tried to reach out to Diana and the latter had callously swatted her away. Diana did not have much time to express that regret because her companion had delivered the cup of wine and had returned in two minutes flat. Once the other blonde was back Diana stuffed her feelings down into their invisible box and Aliarey reported that the hot chocolate vendor really liked the wine that he had been given.

"I am pleased to hear that he liked the wine, Aliarey. And I suppose that you are right... if I served hot chocolate all day, at some point I would eventually want something else to drink." Diana gave her reply to Aliarey's remark that the vendor liked the Monarch wine. Feeling guilty about last time, Diana tried to add a little more length to her response in order to engage Aliarey, but the huntress was sure that the amount added would make no difference. Oh well... she had tried.

Diana's attention shifted from the wine to the two plates of sugar cookies she had brought for herself and Aliarey. Aliarey had picked up one of the plates, removed the wrap and picked up one of the cookies, and commented on how cute it looked. Seeing a second chance to try and engage the blue-eyed blonde in conversation, Diana spoke again.

"The elderly woman who made these cookies gave them to me for free. And the designs are somewhat cute." Diana tried a little harder this time to engage her companion in conversation. Since Diana had deduced that Aliarey's favorite kind of food and drink was free food and drink, the huntress saw fit to include that bit of information as the first sentence of her statement. The statement might come across as a jab at the blue-eyed blonde or it might not. That was up to Aliarey to decide. In the meantime Diana walked over to the bench, set down the wine, picked up her own plate of cookies, removed the wrap, and picked up a Christmas tree-shaped cookie with her right hand.

Diana looked at it for a moment before biting into it. It had a good texture and was sweet but not too sweet. She could care less about how cute the design looked... all she wanted was a cookie that was good and the elderly woman's sugar cookies were what she was after. Aliarey reminded Diana about the wine and Diana smiled a little.

"Very well then. I will get the wine for you." Diana said to Aliarey. The green-eyed blonde walked over to the bench, put the plastic wrap over her plate the best she could, picked up the wine bottle and a cup, and carefully poured half a cup for Aliarey. Diana intended to save a bit of wine for herself just to try the beverage, but if Aliarey wanted a refill Diana would be happy to oblige and give her companion the rest of the bottle.

Besides, considering her family's history with alcohol, it was not like Diana was keen on getting to try some Monarch wine.

If she never got to drink a single drop of alcohol in her life, that was fine with her.

"Here you go." Diana said to Aliarey, carefully extending the cup out towards the blue-eyed blonde.

[Post Word Count: 690]
[Diana's New Word Count: 5,706]